Fallen Angel
by SylverX
Summary: The strong-willed cherub has a destiny to follow and a journey to undertake . . .but will she come out a better person? Or will she come to hate the race that despises her?
1. The Beginning of A New Angel

**Man . . .I haven't written stuff like this for how long? Most of the fanfiction I write nowadays is private, but. . .**

**Meh, might as well get used to it quickly. Here's the deal: this is a redo of a fanfiction I wrote that really sucked. So now I'm doing a redo to ease my hurting soul and all that stuff. I'll try not to make it too fangirl-y . . .**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters! I only own my OC, so meh!**

She had to be dreaming. Always, in all of her nine years alone, nobody had ever protected her from those people. Everybody saw her pointed ears and immediately forgot of protecting her.

But, for once, a human was coming to her aid.

"Stop!" the auburn-haired man stood in front of her, blocking her view of the mob ahead. He was dressed in a dark purple – it was a strange outfit, she realized. A sword sheath was tied to his waist – the sword itself was in his right palm. She saw all of this through her red locks, stiff with flecks of her own blood.

"Why should we?" she heard choruses of. "She's a filthy half-elf! Why are you protecting her?"

"She is not of your concern. Leave!"

She could only stare in confusion. Nothing seemed to be happening – nobody moved. The man in front of her was like a statue, a protector. But would that hold up?

Then, suddenly – the mob grumbled, lost composure, and walked off. The girl couldn't believe her own eyes. All of these years . . .they left from one man's might. That man had saved her . . .

He finally turned to her, but he kept his sword unsheathed. Was he expecting another attack? "Are you alright?"

The girl shook the hair out of her face before speaking in a high voice. "Yes."

"Good." He gave a small smile to the girl, his wine eyes warm. "Be careful of these people – you don't want to get tangled up again." With that, he turned away and walked off in the direction of the village exit.

The girl stared off after him. He had fought the mob away with words, and didn't hurt her afterwords? What a peculiar man. She stood and stared after him. _He saved me,_ she realized. _He saved a half elf like me . . ._ Questions rang in her mind, and suddenly, one came fiercely into realization.

She couldn't ignore it, and she broke into a mad dash in the direction of the strange man.

Wherever she turned, glares surrounded her. She could hear knuckles cracking. She ignored it all – what was important was to keep running to catch up to that strange man. She barely even noticed when her feet led her out of the village, leading her where she was sure the man must have gone.

Taking a final turn, she could see the man in sight – finally. Her legs were starting to give out from tiredness, her breath coming in puffs. He was too far for her to call out to him. Even so, when she finally stumbled, she called out, "Wait!" and fell onto the ground.

Her knees stabbed with pain from old bruises as she landed on the grass. The side of her head complained as grass pricked a thin wound that ran from temple to chin, making her grunt in pain. The question kept running through her mind, taunting her, begging to be answered.

And answered it soon would be.

She felt the earth tremble as something nearby hit it. "Are you alright?" came the voice of the strange person. The girl looked up slowly at him as she felt a trickle of blood run down from the wound on her head. Wine eyes examined her face. "You're the girl from before."

The question burst out of her before she could stop. "Why did you save me?"

The man was silent. The girl managed to sit up with her legs under her, hands still on the earth below her. "I need to know," she continued, "Because you're the first person that's ever helped me ever! Nobody else would ever protect me! So, why-"

"What's your name?" the man asked.

The girl responded in a second. "Elisa. Elisa Sheridan."

"Well, Elisa . . ." he said slowly, ". . .I have several half elf friends. I respect half elves and saved you because you needed it. That's all."

"B-But . . ." Elisa looked at the ground. "But I thought people hated half elves."

"I happen to be the exception," he said calmly. "My friends and I live in a place where they are not persecuted, so I have grown to understand that they are people just as much as humans or elves."

"A place without persecution . . .?" Elisa quietly wondered.

The strange man stood. "In any case, if that answers your questions, I'll be going."

He had turned away and taken a step before Elisa called out, "Wait! W-what is your name?"

The man stopped and turned his head to the girl. "Kratos Aurion."

The words blurted out of her mouth before she could stop them: "Please, let me come with you! I don't want to be in a place where people hate me! I want to stay where people like me aren't persecuted like where you live! And you saved my life, so. . .please! Let me come with you!"

Kratos stood staring at the young girl. Elisa managed to stand and stared at Kratos, her eyes pleading. She stared at the man who could've been her road to freedom.

He opened his mouth to respond.

"Mmph! Dumb nightmares. . ." Elisa stretched her pale arms above her head as she resisted a yawn. She put down her arms and look around the plain room, resisting a sigh. The room was plain white, only an armoire and two beds, one of which was neatly made, the other full of the older girl. She rubbed her eyes as she swung her legs to the side of the bed, standing. She made it to the armoire in two steps and pulled it open. The clothes in it surprised her. "A new outfit? Geez, haven't I taken enough spandex torture?"

She pulled out the top, a V-neck with short sleeves in a forest-y green. The pants were black, flared at the bottom with a high-rise waistband. She also noticed a black camisole in the drawer. She resisted a pang of anger at founding that they were all in her size. _He knows me too well._

The knock at her door came almost the moment she had all her clothes on. "Are you decent?" It was the voice of Kratos.

"Yeah, come in," Elisa went. The moment the door closed behind him, she put her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't know my sizes so well."

"I see you every day, I'm used to it," he said. "In any case, Lord Yggdrasil wanted to see you."

She lowered her hands and stared at the seraph in front of him. "Huh? Why does Mithos want to see me?"

"You'll learn when we get there," Kratos went, turning around. _Kratos . . .you changed too much since eleven years ago . . ._ she noticed sadly.

They exited the bedroom, then the office connected and into the hall. Elisa caught up to Kratos' long stride and crossed her arms, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "So, tell me: what's with the change of wardrobe?"

"You're other outfit was getting ratty enough. It's been a year since your last one, anyway."

"Hmm, you're right," she went. She was a year older now – twenty. It had been eleven years since Kratos saved her from her old village and brought to Cruxis. It had also been eleven years since she'd met Yuan and Mithos. _Good times_, she thought with a roll of the eyes.

At the warp pad, Kratos moved to the computer and started punching in codes as Elisa stared morosely at the device. "I hate these things," she went, "They always make me uncomfortable. I can't believe you've been living with these things for so long."

"You know I've had two thousand years to get used to it," Kratos went absentmindedly.

"Yeah, but you're used to it! Don't you even pay attention to it anymore?"

"Not really. It's ready." He pointed to it. Elisa sighed and got on the warp pad, the familiar feeling of being stretched overcoming her. She closed her eyes to avoid nausea – something she was perceptible to when using them.

When the feeling dispersed and she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see the throne room in front of her, Yggdrasil sitting on the throne with a bored expression. She stepped forward off the pad and heard Kratos appear from behind her. She walked forward and kneeled in front of the throne as Yggdrasil finally turned his attention to her. "You wanted me, my lord?"

"I did," he stood and walked in front of her. She kept her face down – she had experienced before the terror of looking up to face him. He stopped and stared down at her, scrutinizing her with his gaze. "You need a haircut," he went.

She resisted a snarky remark. She knew she needed one – it fell to her lower back, usually circling her torso as well. It was still as red as when she was younger – red like a cherry. "Yes, my lord," she responded after a moment.

"In any case, " Yggdrasil went. "I assume you know why I called you here?"

"I'm afraid not, my lord," she went honestly. "Kratos –"

"_Lord_ Kratos."

"-Lord Kratos didn't explain to me why I was brought here."

Yggdrasil looked at Kratos, who stood back from the two of them. He shrugged. "I assumed you would prefer to tell her."

"In that case," he went, looking back down at Elisa, "I assume you know of the Journey of Regeneration?"

Elisa opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. She looked up without meaning to. "What?"

Her mistake was realized the moment Yggdrasil's hand smack her face, scraping at the thin scar she had kept all those years. She grit her teeth and resisted tears – his slaps were strong. "I told you, do not look up at my like you're my equal," he said. "And in any case, it seems you do. It leaves me with little to explain."

"W-what do you mean, my lord?" she asked, turning her head to the floor again, her cheek stinging.

"You've lived on Cruxis for eleven years now. You haven't paid your dues – especially to me, your hospitable host." Elisa resisted a harsh remark and let him continue. "The only way you can pay back your debts is to become an angel. And since we're also testing a new 'Journey' prototype for the Chosens, I've decided that you can be our test. You are to go to Sylvarant and test the new system, thereby becoming an angel. Any questions? And before you ask, no, you're Journey will not affect anything whatsoever – you're not an official Chosen anyway."

Yes, she did have questions. Her mind, as always, was swarming with them. But she replied, "No, my lord," knowing better than to ask.

"Then you will take Kratos and Yuan with you as protection – I expect all three of you to return in a week's time. You're dismissed," And with that, Yggdrasil walked past her and Kratos to the warp panel, disappearing.

"He can be such a jerk sometimes," she complained as she stood, turning to Kratos. "How can you live with him?" No answer. She gave out a sigh. "Sorry. I guess he is your friend and all."

"He is," he said stiffly. "In any case, let's go and find Yuan. We do need to get going, anyway."

_Knock knock._

"Come in,"

Elisa entered the room behind Kratos, sheepishly looking at her shoes. She had protested, asked not to take him, but an order was an order. Yuan would have to come.

"Ah, Kratos. Elisa," Yuan stood up from a desk covered in papers. "What brings you two?"

"Mi- Lord Yggdrasil," Kratos started, using the official name for business in regards to his friend, "has ordered Elisa on a prototype Journey, and he requested that you accompany us."

"Do I get a choice? Because I had a bit of office work to do, and I wanted to finish it before I got another monthly report on top of all of this . . ."

"Y-you don't have to," Elisa muttered to her shoes.

"Yes, you do," Kratos went. "It's an order."

Yuan looked behind Kratos at Elisa. She turned a darker shade of pink than she had when walking in. She looked determinedly at the floor, not wanting to attract attention. Yuan looked back at Kratos and said something Elisa couldn't catch. Kratos whispered something back. His friend let out a sigh. "I guess I'm going then . . ."

Elisa glanced up and gave a timid smile. "Th-thank you, Lord Yuan."

"You don't need to call me that, you know," he said to her with a smirk.

"O-oh!" She looked down at the floor again, wishing it would swallow her up. "S-sorry!"

Yuan gave a hearty laugh. "You're still the same girl from eleven years ago, huh!" Elisa just wanted to turn invisible as her defiant cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red.

"Enough," Kratos broke in. "We have a job. Get ready and we'll go."

"I can go now," Yuan said, standing. "Is there anything else we need?"

"I grabbed food," Elisa muttered.

Kratos nodded. "The rest we can get at Iselia . . .let's get a move on, then."

Kratos turned and left the room, with Elisa following. She heard Yuan follow, and he passed her with a brush on her side. She looked away nervously and took a sharp breath, letting it out as quietly as she could.

She wished her friends weren't so smart.

**Ta-daaa! Quick introduction to Elisa and her character. And yes, she goes on the journey. I don't find that a reason to make her a Mary-Sue. Besides, it's pretty important for her character.**

**In any case, I think we can see her sides at this point, right? And I've already established a crush, hehehe . . .and no, I'm not that interested in her crush. I'm more interested in the stoic redhead in the room . . .**

**Please comment! I hope I was actually competent . . .**


	2. One Surprise Too Many

**The next chapter! I'm hoping that I can get this done quickly . . .I have some other projects, and I'm throwing down a lot of them so I can get these done.**

**So, recap: Elisa was taken into Cruxis at age nine via Kratos, and eleven years later, she was ordered by Mithos to go on a prototype journey. Not only that, it turns out she has a crush on the blue-haired seraph.**

**Aren't I just evil?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I only own my character. If I did own ToS though, Kratos would go to the darn beach and have swimtrunks! (Yep, typical Kratos fangirl).**

"Hmm. Pretty lightweight," Elisa spun her new lance in her hands a few times before taking it in a strong grip and getting into a fake battle stance. "Either way, it's pretty cool!"

"Just don't forget that it costs money," Kratos chided.

Elisa smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."

"You apologize a lot, you know." Yuan pointed out.

"O-oh! S-sorry!" Elisa turned a dark shade of red and looked down at her boots. Yuan and Kratos laughed, breaking her out of her embarrassment. "L-let's just get going, alright?"

"I suppose so," Kratos went. They were standing near the schoolhouse, already stocked with items. "We should get going. The first seal is –"

"-the Triet Ruins. That's where Efreet is – we should get a move on."

"Y-yeah," Elisa strapped her new lance to her back and smiled at the group. "Time to go."

The terrain was quickly turning from rocks to sand, and the temperature was slowly rising. _This is where having a mop of hair is a disadvantage,_ Elisa realized with disdain. She was starting to envy Kratos and Yuan more, both of them with shorter hair. She wanted to cut hers off, but she preferred it longer! It was grown out so long from eleven years without a cut, and she liked it longer anyway. Except in this heat . . .

"You look like you're melting," Yuan went, slowing down to walk next to her. "Is your hair really that much of a nuisance?"

Elisa looked down at the ground again. "I-It's not that much of a hindrance," she mumbled. "And I like it longer."

Yuan stared at her as she blushed, before calling out to Kratos. "Can we take a break? Somebody needs a haircut!"

Elisa turned a shade even brighter than her hair as the group stopped. "W-we don't need to stop!" Elisa protested, looking up at Yuan and Kratos, staring at her. "It's fine! I like my hair this long! And we won't be in the heat forever!"

"It's a good week or more to get to the ruins," Kratos told her. "You're going to need to get a haircut, or you'll suffer heat stroke."

"And you look like you're melting anyway," Yuan added.

It was decided. Elisa sat on a stump with a pout, elbows on her knees, as Kratos cut her hair with a knife he had on hand. She resisted a cry in despair every time a lock of her precious hair fell to the ground in front of her. She could feel her head get lighter with each lock that was chopped off, her spirits slowly sinking from more than the heat.

Finally, the torture was over. "It's not the neatest cut," Kratos went as he sheathed his knife, "But it's better than nothing."

Elisa shook her head, feeling the lightness of hair minus a yard. The feeling was odd, feeling her hair brush her shoulders instead of getting caught behind them. Now it clung closer to her face, highlighting her green eyes. "I . . .guess it feels a little better," she realized, the heat not as bad as before with her longer hair. "I suppose it was for the best."

She got up and turned to Yuan and Kratos, saying, "I'm sorry. I guess you guys were right."

"There's no need for apologies." Kratos went. "We need to get going."

Yuan nodded. "Right. We should probably hurry before nightfall."

"W-wait a sec!" Elisa went. Both seraphs turned to her. "Why not just walk at night? That way, we'd be walking in cooler weather. And besides, a lot of monsters sleep during the night, many of which are venomous, so-"

"How do you know that?" Yuan asked her suddenly. She jumped and looked at her feet, silently choosing not to respond. Yuan stared at her a moment longer before shaking his head and looking to Kratos. "She does have a point. And since we've stopped now anyway, why don't we just stay here? Elisa needs to sleep, after all."

Kratos grunted. "I suppose so." He turned. "I'll go look for firewood." With that, he left through the trees.

Elisa stared after him with a worried and concerned gaze. "He didn't usually act like this," Elisa whispered. "Did he start acting like this when I came?"

"I don't think it was you entirely, to be fair," Yuan interrupted. Elisa jumped – she hadn't thought he had heard her. "I'm not sure what the cause is, but it may just be that he's getting old. And you might've helped, a little."

"Hey, w-what does that mean?" she asked. Yuan shrugged and looked away. She gave up on getting an answer.

_Why does my forehead feel funny?_

It was the first thing Elisa asked herself when she awoke on the floor of the dying forest. She sat up, her hands meeting a mix of soil and sand. She furrowed her brow. It felt odder to actually furrow it, as if something was jutting her skin. She reached a hand up, wondering if something had dried there (like a bug – she tried not to think of that) but met cold metal. She moved her hand down it – whatever it was ended between her eyebrows. Moving up, she felt it widen and branch off side to side in the middle of her forehead. It also continued up and met her hairline. She moved her hand down again to the center and felt a different metal. She furrowed her brow again, irritating it again. It wasn't metal, she realized – she knew what it was from coming across it.

It felt like a jewel.

"What the fuck?" She moved her hand away in the second, standing the next. Her world almost turned black as she almost fell, the speed of her movement almost knocking her out. Her vision cleared, and she quickly looked around to try and find Kratos and Yuan. She didn't and swore again. A growling came from somewhere, and she looked around before realizing that it came from her. She sighed. "Darn. Might as well eat."

They reappeared the moment she had finished eating. "Nice timing, guys," she went, pointing fiercely to her forehead. "What the heck is this thing?"

Yuan didn't say a word, only handed her a handmirror. She took it and stared at her face.

The first metal was gold, creating an elegant design on her brow. The jewel was a blood red, a darker shade than her own hair. She noticed that the left side stopped short – the right side went all the way to the opposite end of her temple, but the left stopped just before. It was safely away from the pale scar that ran down her face and jaw, a reminder of what she had faced years earlier.

She handed the mirror back to Yuan. "And you guys couldn't have _told_ me that you were going to give me a Cruxis Crystal in the middle of the night?" 

"I suggested it to Yuan when you were asleep. You're quite a deep sleeper, by the way," Kratos went.

Elisa sighed. "I think I would've preferred to be aware when you were putting it on. How does that even work?"

"We don't have much time to be talking about this," Yuan went. "We need the time we have to get a move on. Besides, Triet Ruins is pretty far from here."

"I suppose so," Kratos went. "Let's get moving."

The two seraphs turned away, and Elisa stood and followed reluctantly. _They need to start giving me warnings . . ._

**Okay . . .Chapter two is done. I probably won't cover the whole walk to Triet Ruins, but I think I will cover her last meal. We'll see . . .**

**Please comment!**


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